Product repair in a circular economy: Exploring public repair behavior from a systems perspective

39% of Europeans cite high repair costs and logistical difficulties as deterrents to repair.

“with 39% citing high repair costs and logistical difficulties as deterrents [11].”

Concerns about repair quality persist, often stemming from a lack of accessible, standardized repair services and uncertainty about replacement part reliability.

“Nevertheless, concerns about repair quality persist, often stemming from a lack of accessible, standardized repair services and uncertainty about replacement part reliability [11].”

Consumer repair behavior remains limited despite increasing policy and industry focus on repairability.

“Despite increasing policy and industry focus on repairability, consumer repair behavior remains limited.”

Over 80% of Europeans recognize the environmental benefits of sustainable choices.

“EU surveys show that while over 80% of Europeans recognize the environmental benefits of sustainable choices, far fewer act on them.”

Consumer willingness to engage in repair is closely tied to perceived self-efficacy.

“One reason is psychological: consumer willingness to engage in repair is closely tied to perceived self-efficacy.”

Targeted behavioral interventions such as skills training, peer support, and DIY repair tutorials can significantly boost repair intentions.

“Studies have shown that targeted behavioral interventions such as skills training, peer support, and do-it-yourself (DIY) repair tutorials can significantly boost repair intentions [11].”

The attitude-behavior gap mirrors the well-documented gap between sustainable intentions and actions, and is broadly consistent with EU-level survey data showing that only 32% of Europeans have repaired an item in the past six months, with 39% citing cost and logistical difficulty as deterrents.

“This mirrors the welldocumented gap between sustainable intentions and actions [10,33,35] and is broadly consistent with EU-level survey data showing that only 32% of Europeans have repaired an item in the past six months, with 39% citing cost and logistical difficulty as deterrents [11].”

Policy measures often fail to translate into user-level behavior change without active communication intermediaries.

“This mirrors prior findings that policy measures often fail to translate into user-level behavior change without active communication intermediaries [11,29,36].”

The results confirm that participants generally hold positive attitudes toward product repairability and recycled materials.

“The results confirm that participants generally hold positive attitudes toward product repairability and recycled materials, aligning with growing normative support for repair as a central circular economy strategy [3,11].”

The use of general product categories in the primary survey reflects a deliberate Stage 1 design choice consistent with exploratory consumer research.

“The use of general product categories in the primary survey reflects a deliberate Stage 1 design choice consistent with exploratory consumer research”

Following the Ecodesign Regulation (European Commission No. 666/2013), awareness among end users was similarly slow to develop without targeted communication efforts.

“following the Ecodesign Regulation (European Commission No. 666/2013) [40], awareness among end users was similarly slow to develop without targeted communication efforts [11,36].”

Consumers express positive attitudes towards repair and sustainability but are deterred by concerns about repair quality, durability, cost, and effort.

“Consistent with previous studies, consumers express positive attitudes towards repair and sustainability but are deterred by concerns about repair quality, durability, cost, and effort [11,24,30].”

Repair practices are shaped not only by consumers' internal motivation but also by external factors such as infrastructure, social and cultural influences, financial considerations, and political frameworks.

“As noted by Parajuly, repair practices are shaped not only by consumers' internal motivation but also by external factors such as infrastructure, social and cultural influences, financial considerations, and political frameworks [11].”

There is a gap between consumers' positive attitudes toward sustainability and their actual repair practices.

“Despite widespread awareness of sustainability issues, there is a gap between consumers' attitudes and actions.”

Repair must be understood as a socio-technical activity shaped by user capabilities, economic conditions, and product design, not simply a preference to be activated through awareness campaigns alone.

“Repair must therefore be understood as a socio-technical activity shaped by user capabilities, economic conditions, and product design, not simply a preference to be activated through awareness campaigns alone [7,11].”

The consistency of the findings across the behavioral, economic, and functional dimensions and their alignment with independently published repair behavior studies provides convergent external validation that partially mitigates the limitations of single-method, single-time-point designs.

“Furthermore, the consistency of the findings across the behavioral, economic, and functional dimensions-and their alignment with independently published repair behavior studies [10,11,23,24,30]-provides a form of convergent external validation that partially mitigates the limitations inherent in single-method, single-time-point designs.”

Only 32% of Europeans have repaired an item within six months instead of replacing it.

“Only 32% have repaired an item within six months instead of replacing it”